Thread: What to buy and when to hone?

Whoa! Lots of good info guys and thanx! I have a 2.5" Heirloom Artisan Steer hide with Linen strop coming from The Well Shaved Gentleman and just received a very nice 3" wide with felt backing strop from Star Shaving supplies. Is it bad form to swap razors between strops? I do have the Dovo yellow and white paste for the strop and linen backing, but have heard diverse opinions concerning their use on strops. Thanx again!-Gearhead222

Linen is excellent to strop on, way better in my opinion than canvas, at least in comparison for me between the Dovo canvas and Neil Miller linen (which I use only on Sundays). What do you mean 'strop razors between strops'? Do you mean use a razor that you haven't stropped since the last shave? If so, that's not really recommended. You can get away with it of course, but it's best to strop your razor before EVERY shave. I strop 30/70 before and 10/10 after for each shave. Don't confuse stropping with honing or sharpening. I'm not even going to GET in to what stropping does or does not do, that question is along the lines of why horses have such tender knees, and many do use pastes, but I use a strop for stropping and a hone for sharpening and call it done.

Here to find out what I'm going on about re. the horses' knees (scroll down)

BTW, where are you situated?

Thanx Carmalo! What is the sequence you are referring to? 30 linen and 70 leather before shaving and 10 linen and 10 leather after shaving or vice versa? Also I have a Big Daddy 3" from Star Shaving with a thick felt backing-tip and end) and was going to apply a small dab of Dovo yellow conditioner paste to the leather (tip and end) and apply a dab of the abrasive white paste to the tip and end of the felt back.IIRC, I was told NOT to apply anything to the Miller Leather/Linen strop. Thanx again for all of your help-Gearhead-PS-Almost forgot, but I'm in Austin, Texas!

(Carl ), yes, 30 linen 70 leather. I wouldn't apply anything to either strop, myself...

Beating a dead horse that's been canned and shipped to France, but with a shave ready razor that's been used once, do I just do the 10/10 afterwards and then do the 30/70 when I'm getting ready to shave again with that razor? As always, appreciate the advice-Gear

Well, that is actually a good question. When you are new to stropping you can 'roll the edge'. What that means is basically lifting the spine of the razor off the strop so the actual cutting edge of the razor comes in contact with the strop. You should always try and keep the spine of the razor on the strop and not lift it. Also you should flip the razor on its spine and NOT try to go too fast when you are learning. I'd even recommend less laps, i.e. maybe do 15/30 at first and build up from there. 70 laps is a lot, and one can easily loose concentration of one doesn't REALLY try and concentrate. So, imagine you've bought a razor that IS shave ready, or just got one back from being honed professionally, stropping poorly can dull that newly honed (and probably stropped by the honer) edge. Shave with the razor that's shave ready for the first time (and depending on thickness of growth, amount of face you'll shave the first time, etc) even the first FEW times without stropping. I shaved for a few weeks without stropping as I didn't have a strop at first. I actually stropped for the first time on rolled up newspaper. As you get better, you'll strop before each and every shave to remove the micro corrosion, etc etc.

Here's the 'stroptober' thread that had some good videos in it.

Carl

Carl-Thank you again. My first shave was pure bliss with a shave ready blade-4 nicks and this was with 4 passes in some spots I have to learn the proper technique, so I do NOT shave until I have had my java-same will apply to stropping Also ordered some Camellia oil with applicator-very $. Will keep all of you updated-Gearhead

Cool, good to hear you're on a roll

Yah baby!Had a very productive talk with Sham the man this evening-Gearhead222

Hey Gearhead

I think I am following the thread here and you have got some good overall advice. Just have a few things to add.

First with the big daddy do not apply the dovo white to the felt if you haven't already that paste and felt does not get along.

Second if you have multiple shave ready blades I would say pick one and shave with that till it will no longer shave even after touch ups on the paste. This will do a couple things for you as a new shaver. First it will let you get very familiar with that razor and that will help you get all the aspects of the shave down. I find each razor even of the same width shave a little different. Second once that razor is dull going to a new razor will really show you how far you have come in your shaving. Third you don't run the risk of ruining all your edges as you learn to strop.

Lastly with 8 shave ready razors and the basala strop I would say you probably won't need a hone for close to a year or two. Though you may want one sooner. As has been said the norton 4/8 k is a good starting point. The 8k can be used as your finisher and can be used like a barber hone. For me I like a 1 k hone and then a full run of dovo paste (green, red, and black) for my sharpening needs. So there are other options. One advantage to the paste method that I like is that you use stropping motions that you have already learned.